Comic Book Scribe Alan Moore Penning Short Film Series

Anyone who’s read a comic book or graphic novel in the last 30 years likely knows the name Alan Moore. The British writer is responsible for some of the medium’s greatest achievements, including V for Vendetta, Batman: The Killing Joke (a major inspiration for Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance in The Dark Knight) and the game-changing Watchmen (the only graphic novel on Time’s “ALL-TIME 100 Greatest Novels” list).

Inevitably, many of Moore’s stories were given the film treatment – such as From Hell, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, as well as the aforementioned V for Vendetta and Watchmen. A long-discussed Swamp Thing movie, based on Moore’s beloved 1980s series, may eventually gain traction, as well. Moore has developed a reputation for publicly bashing big-screen adaptations of his work; in fairness, almost none of them have really done justice to the source material, but Moore also roundly dismisses modern mainstream cinema in general.

Given his adversarial relationship with the movie industry, few would have anticipated the recent announcement that Moore is apparently hard at work on an independent film series with photographer and friend Mitch Jenkins. According to Slashfilm, the project is called Show Pieces, and will consist of several short films, all following a “multi-layered, multi-episode narrative.”

At this point, actual details on the overarching plot and tone are few and far between, but the first installment in the series, titled Act of Faith, has reportedly been completed. All that’s known is that it was shot in London, and stars Irish actress Siobhan Hewlett (Moore supposedly wrote the part specifically for Hewlett after seeing her in a previous role). Part two, titled Jimmy’s End, will reportedly begin filming in Northampton, U.K., later this summer, and will also feature Hewlett, presumably portraying the same character.

Act of Faith and Jimmy’s End are scheduled to premiere this October in New York, during a “cultural festival” hosted by The Creator’s Project, which showcases various innovative applications of art and technology around the world. These first two episodes will eventually be available to the general public through TheCreatorsProject.com, but the timetable for the rest of the series remains unclear.